Two Offerings Say What?

Wow!! Church in Ghana is so awesome! Today we first went to Trinity Lutheran Church in Tema. Church started at 9 with only a few members in the pews. In Africa, everything starts late. We used the red hymnals and did a version of order of morning service. After a few hymns, our group was introduced to the congregation. We also sang 2 songs for the people, You Are My All In All, and In Christ Alone. The people were very welcoming and loved having us there. 

We left church at Trinity to go to St. Paul's in Accra, since their church "starts" at 10 and we had a 40 minute drive. We got there at 10:15 and church didn't start until 10:20. Go figure. 

Church in Ghana is so fun, exciting, and energetic! The choir was amazing, adding some beat to the Lutheran hymns, which was the best thing I've ever heard. Church also has two offerings. The first one they pass the buckets down the rows of pews and this money is collected for the general work of the church. The second offering is collected by everybody getting out of their pews, dancing up to the front of the church, and dropping their offering in a bucket up front. This offering is collected for a project of some kind. This was so fun and I think we should do offering like this in the states! 

During church, a new missionary was installed at St. Paul's church. The installation was awesome, and the words the pastor said were so much more meaningful than any other installation I've been to. Along with the installation, the LWF (Lutheran World Federation) is having a conference in Ghana for two weeks. There were many people from many different countries represented in church to attend the conference. The president of LWF was in attendance today. It was awesome to see and meet these people working for our Savior and sharing their faith with the world. 

When church was over, 2 1/2 hours later, everybody exits in a single file line and the first person out, stops at the back of the church. Then each person following, shakes hands with the people in line and then gets into the line themselves. This is so that everybody in church shakes everybody else's hand. The people in church were so welcoming and loved having us worship with them. 

For lunch, our group, and the LWF group, were invited by the pastor of the church to go to his fast food restaurant, Southern Fried Chicken. This place is a KFC and a Jack-in-the-Box kind of place.

 

We however, were taken upstairs to a banquet area. We were served, of course, fried chicken, along with a lot of other kinds of Ghanaian food. 

For dessert: fresh fruit! We had watermelon, oranges, papaya, and mangoes. Oh my goodness! The fruit here is so fresh and juicy! I've never had a better mango in my life! You cannot find mangoes like this in America. I guess I'm going to have to plant my own Ghanaian mango tree in my backyard. 

We went back to the house after dessert. We did our best to change into cooler clothes, but we weren't sure if anything would help. This is Malinda to show you an example of how hot it was today!

Thomas, Alicia, Malinda, Sarah, and I went and walked down the street to a store called Global Mama's. This is a store that sells items made by women who are struggling. All of the profit goes to help and support help Ghanaian women in need. They had some really interesting things for sale and I just wanted to buy everything! I wish it were possible. 

Dad: this is for you! We saw the fire station and a fire truck on our way back to the house! 

Since then, we have planned our activities for tomorrow at the school. We are waiting for Ivan (our missionary leader) to get back with food for dinner.